State Supreme Court throws out case against Huntsville law firm

MONTGOMERY -- The Alabama Supreme Court Friday affirmed the dismissal of a legal malpractice lawsuit that had filed against one of Huntsville's most prestigious law firms.

In a 5-0 opinion, the high court ruled that a lawsuit filed by Coilplus-Alabama of Athens, a steel manufacturing company, against Sirote & Permutt, and one of its former lawyers, Johnnie Vann, was barred by the statute of limitations.

The suit had earlier been dismissed in the Limestone Circuit Court.

Coilplus, which was founded in Athens in 1985 and has nine other U.S. plants and one in Mexico, accused Vann and Sirote & Permutt of giving it misleading advice on the issuance of $8 million in bonds in 1999 for plant expansion.

Vann had advised the company to issue the bonds through the Athens Industrial Development Board so the bonds would qualify as tax-exempt bonds under Internal Revenue Service rules.

It later turned out the IRS deemed the bonds were not tax-exempt because the amount exceeded the company's $10 million bond cap when counted against unpaid bonds from 1984.

Even though Vann was aware of the 1984 bonds, the Supreme Court agreed with the trial court that there was no evidence that he knew the 1999 bonds would later be taxable when he advised Coilplus they would be tax-free.